Applicants for Work Relief

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Believing that there has been too much emotionalism in connection with the relief problem, Elizabeth Gilboy has here presented a scientific and impartial statement of the facts concerning the section of the population which went on work relief and an appraisal of the work relief system. She describes the economic characteristics of these citizens, such as income, expenditure, occupation, debts, property-holdings, and the like, both before and after their being put on the relief rolls. Most of the data were collected in Massachusetts, but further information was secured wherever possible all over the country. The book opens with a brief summary of the development of work relief in Massachusetts from the early days of the depression to the establishment of the WPA. This is followed by an examination of the administration of work relief, the methods of admitting and dismissing cases, the wage system, efficiency both of the workers and of the administration itself, and the aims of work relief. These questions have been examined particularly in connection with the problem of re-employment, with which one section of the book is concerned. The weakness and the strength of the WPA are shrewdly appraised, and several suggestions are offered for making the whole system more efficient.